Tag Archives: terrorism

I have looked forward to reading this book ever since I heard about it – and it did not disappoint! Very slow in the beginning, and dragged a bit, but it did pick up the pace wonderfully!

What we have here are two individuals (Bill Clinton, former president and co-founder of the Clinton Foundation, and James Patterson, renowned author and founder of the JIMMY book imprint for children) who shared their expertise to create a timely story about government (national and global), terrorism, cyberspace, and the need for cyber-security.

The story is based on fictional U.S. President Duncan, and how he deals with a crisis situation of critical proportions in a very humane manner, with all of the knowledge and wisdom gained through his life in the military, as a POW, and as a civilian. Between Clinton and Patterson, they create a believable (and functioning!) White House, a believable environment around the president (including the Secret Service), great descriptions of the White House, a unique location where a great deal of the action takes place, and strong global interaction.

We start out with the president dealing with a health crisis that underlies the entire story. But he has to be President – no time for doing the right thing medically! The national crisis is one of epic proportions – one that could take the entire U.S. down through a virus that was planted in it Internet three years before. And yes – there is a date when the virus will activate. A date that comes too soon, and a cyber security team that, while they are the best of the best, cannot locate the virus, and, when they finally do, cannot stop it. Every system in the U.S. that is connected to the Internet (and all systems are!) will go down. No clean water, no ability to purchase anything, no ability to keep hospitals operational – the list goes on!

So – we have a president with a health crisis, who needs to protect his country, who had been about to face an impeachment hearing, and who has now “gone missing”. He has the secret service with him, but he is still targeted. The person behind the virus (who did meet with the president) is killed. Her partner did not write the code, he simply hacked it into the U.S. systems. He is captured alive – and actually wants to help!

The President reaches out for help from the Israeli Prime Minister, the German Chancellor, and the Russian President. He gets two out of three in person – the Israeli Prime Minister and the German Chancellor. Russia comes up short, sending their second in command, Prime Minister Ivan Volkov.

Then there is the individual that might have been the cause for his impeachment – a global terrorist by the name of Suliman Cindoruk. Oh, and yes, one of the President’s six closest advisors, the only people that know about the virus, is a traitor.

I definitely recommend this book as representative of our times. Even though it starts slowly, and to me has an overwhelming amount of female primary characters (FBI Director, Vice President, the President’s personal physician, the President’s Chief of Staff, and Deputy Chief of Staff, and a female assassin who is pregnant), the characters are well written, the plot is fantastic, and the storyline moves quickly (after a slow start). I also recommend watching the accompanying video on Amazon featuring both authors. Definitely a history lesson within the covers of this book!